Members Absent: Dranoff, Erik Phd (2018); Lauer-Listhaus, Barbara Psyd (2019)
Committee on Legislative Affairs (COLA)
November 9, 2016 Minutes
7:00-9:00 pm
NJPA Central Office
Members Present: Axelbank, Jeffrey H PsyD (2019), Gorman, Ashley, PhD (2017)
(Secretary); Hagovsky, Mathias, PhD (2017)(COLA Chair);Hanbury, Raymond F PhD (2018);; Lee, Alan J PsyD (2019); Newsome, Hulon, PsyD (2016) (COLA Past-Chair, NJPA President-Elect); Singer, Mark EdD (2018)(COLA Chair-Elect); Sofair-Fisch, Tamara PhD (2019); Weiss, Frank, PhD (2016); Zylik, Dominika MS (NJPAGS Representative); Boertzel-Smith, Keira JD (Executive Director); Jason Tosches (substitute Government Affairs Agent)
Members Absent: Dranoff, Erik PhD (2018); Lauer-Listhaus, Barbara PsyD (2019)
Resource Guests: Waters, Virginia, PhD
______
I. Call to Order
II. October Minutes – Boertzel-Smith will redistribute the October minutes with amendments for approval
III. New Legislative Bills
A. A4220/S2715 Establishes one New Jersey Suicide Prevention Advisory Council in DOH.
[(A) O'Scanlon, Vainieri Huttle/ (S) Beck]
Lauer-Listhaus and Hanbury
Position: Support
B. A4034/S2548 Establishes "Monica's Law" concerning domestic violence risk assessment pilot program.
[(A) Singleton,Munoz, Mosquera, Vainieri Huttle / (S) Weinberg,Allen]
Dranoff and Lee
Position: Monitor
Note—discussed possible minor amendment to the bill; specifically, seeking increased explanation regarding the qualifications necessary to perform domestic violence risk assessment
C. S2724 Requires alternative payment models to register with DOH; permits health care practitioners to refer patients to health care service in which the practitioner has beneficial interest when related to alternative payment model [(S) Codey, Vitale]
Axelbank and Sofair-Fisch
Position: Monitor
D. S2728 Requires board of education to post information about child abuse hotline in each school [(S) Diegnan]
Weiss and Lee
Position: Support
E. S2768/ A2189 Concerns standard for involuntary commitment to outpatient treatment; requires police training on behavioral health issues
[(S) Beck/ (A) Singleton, Vainieri Huttle]
Hanbury and Singer
Position: Support with minor amendment
Senate version of this bill recently introduced; we are seeking minor amendment on page 3 regarding the phrase “state licensed clinical psychologist”—the word “clinical” should be removed, as the board of examiners licenses “psychologists” and additional criteria are required to use the term “clinical” in one’s title
IV. 2016-2017 Legislative Priorities Update
- A2170/ S2259 Grants prescriptive authority to certain psychologists
[(A) Diegnan, Ciattarelli, Johnson] [(S) Diegnan]
Update: bill was held at the last minute due to push by the medical society; we have a request to meet with Ciattarelli and committee chairman Giblin; we discussed pros/cons to responding to the article posted on NJ.com in order to correct inaccuracies
B. S707/A4267 (new (A) number) Requires certain health benefits plans to provide treatment for behavioral health care services when determined medically necessary.
[(S) Gordon/ (A) Huttle] Bills are not identical (2014-2015 bill #sS2180 /A3450)
- NEW
Update: Assemblywoman Huttle has agreed to make amendments to bill to match Senator Gordon’s Bill; at this time, we request that Jon Bombardieri ask Assemblywoman Huttle to assist in attaining more detailed information from insurance companies about costs
C. S291/A1464 Telepsychology –
[(S) Vitale, Whelan, Allen/ (A) Lampitt, Coughlin, Conaway]
Update: Approved by senate heath and senate budget; sponsor is committed to going to assembly by end of calendar year, and assembly committed to move bill by end of 2017
D. A3303/S1703 Increases Medicaid reimbursement rates for certain evidence-based behavioral health services; designated as the Mental Health Access Act.
[(A) Vainieri Huttle, Benson, Lagana, Sumter/ (S) Vitale]
Update: Huttle has concerns about cost in this bill; she is working with the office of legislative services (non-partisan) who will produce a fiscal note on the bill; we discussed issue of getting interns and post-docs reimbursed for services under Medicaid; per Boertzel-Smith, Texas has had success in getting interns and post-docs getting reimbursement through Medicaid; NJPA has a call with Medicaid on November 14, 2016; NJPA will distribute a statement to membership after the call; discussed offering education via webinar to providers to help them navigate the system for claim submissions
Discussion ensued; Axelbank suggested that the bill is no longer relevant since the rates were increased in July 2016.
Last Minute Bills to Review – Group Discussion
E. S2614 Expands the types of acts for which certain practitioners incur duty to warn
[(S) Jennifer Beck]
This bill expands on current regulations regarding psychologists’ duty to warn to include situations in which no identifiable victim is named
Position: Monitor
F. A4273 Requires State supervision of certain professional and occupational licensing boards.
[(A) Greenwald]
Position: Monitor
G. A4268 Requires forms for informed consent for health care to be separate from forms related to assignment of insurance beliefs or financial arrangements
[(S) Vainieri Huttle]
Position: Monitor
V. Other Business
A. Legislative Events - October 25, 2016 Senator Gill - Lee
B. May Mental Health Awareness
AJR96/ SJR62 Designates month of May of each year as "Mental Health Awareness Month". [(A) [(A) Eustace/(S) Codey]
Update: per Boertzel-Smith, we must request annually for this designation; work on events which NJPA can sponsor in May in conjunction with this initiative
D. Fall Trenton Legislative Day – Looking for four members to attend
Update: discuss additional dates for members to attend (Monday November 21 or Thursday December 15th)
E. 2016 Legislator of the Year – October 22, 2016 NJPA Fall Conference - Follow Up
Governor Richard J Codey
Update: per Boertzel-Smith, APA currently has e a call for nominations for “2017 state legislator of the year award” to be presented at the Practicing Leadership Conference in March 2017; COLA members agree that we should nominate one of our legislators for this award; deadline is December 16, 2016—we will consult with Jon Bombardieri to discuss nominees for this award
F. Regulations Review
Creation of timeline
Update: This will be discussed at the COLA retreat in January 2017
G. 2017 COLA Members
COLA Chair – Mark Singer; COLA Past Chair – Matt Hagovsky; COLA Chair Elect – TBD;
COLA Secretary – Ashley Gorman; Potential New Members - Debora Davis, PhD; Aida Ismael-Lennon, PsyD; Resource Guests- Suzanne Buchanan, PsyD; Stacie D Shivers, PsyD; Virginia, Waters, PhD; Frank Weiss, Frank, PhD
VI. Thank You to all COLA Members and Resource Guests for Your Hard Work in 2016!
The group thanked Frank Weiss, Dominika Zylik, and Hulon Newsome for their terms on COLA; Frank Weiss will join COLA in 2017 as a resource guest; the group wished Hulon Newsome a wonderful term as the 2017 NJPA President
VII. Meeting Adjourned
2017 Meetings
January 18, 2017 5:00 pm – 9:00pm COLA Retreat
March 15, 2017 7pm – 9pm COLA
May 17, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
June 7, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
October 18, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
November 15, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
Meeting Adjourned 8:27pm
Minutes submitted respectfully,
Ashley Gorman, Ph.D., ABPP